#EnelFocusOn Madrid: innovation for a sustainable energy future

Do you think that entrepreneurs and start-ups have a key role in the evolution of the energy industry? Innovation in this industry is key to finding sustainable solutions. This was precisely the focus of the fifth edition of #EnelFocusOn, a forum promoted by Enel to create discussions regarding the future of the energy industry, with experts, entrepreneurs and start-ups in a collaborative setting.

"#EnelFocusOn is a very important event for us because it enables us to accelerate and promote discussions regarding issues that have an impact on our lives and future. Today, we are going to focus on sustainable solutions for the energy industry". This is how Isabella Panizza, Head of Digital Communications at Enel Group, opened an event held to discuss ideas on how to improve the industry's future.

Promoting an innovative ecosystem is one of the goals of our open innovation model. There are companies with quality ideas willing to take risks in order to change the energy future and it is important that we support them to enable them to develop these ideas.

“#EnelFocusOn enables us to accelerate and promote discussions regarding issues that have an impact on our lives and future”

– Isabella Panizza, Head of Digital Communications at Enel Group

Francisco Morcillo, Engineering and Architecture Project Manager at MB3 Gestión, one of the guests at the event, commented on the role of start-ups in the open innovation model, emphasising that "Open Innovation provides an exchange of information with which we can find out, in detail, about the possibilities offered by the energy system. Start-ups can expand specific parts of the industry, providing other points of view that, perhaps, had been seen in detail".

Collaborations with external agents is essential for following this philosophy, which relies on the growth of companies and the industry though the creation of events such as #EnelFocusOn. In fact, after being held in cities such as New York and London, the event was also held at our site in Madrid: a building with a Triple Energy Management, Environmental and Interior Air Quality Certification. This is our way of showing our sustainability strategy on a day dedicated to new sustainable solutions for the energy industry.

A day to reflect on the energy future

The day was a good opportunity to put Enel staff in contact with around twenty international experts in the industrial sectors and expert digital leaders in communication, innovation and technology who came from countries such as Russia, Italy, Spain, Colombia and Peru.

The starting point of the debate was the presentation The New Power by Alexis Madrigal, an American journalist and writer, expert in green technologies and renewable energy, who moderated the subsequent conversation in which guests contributed their vision on the best solutions for the future of the industry and its sustainability.

Guillermo Mas, Business Innovation Manager at Suez, defined the event as a practical meeting that "exposes international realities that may not be as similar as one might think and permits an exchange of ideas to see a more comprehensive side of the matter".

Angel Fraile, Head of Sustainability Planning and Stakeholder Engagement at Endesa, was one of the presenters of this digital initiative, in which he explained how #EnelFocusOn fits into the Open Innovation philosophy, at the same time in which he opened the topic of debate: necessary innovation for the electric and energy future.

"We are not only talking about the innovation that the Enel team can carry out, but also that which we bring to the company". Fraile explained the Open Innovation model as follows: "We have to create an action plan together with the local communities that assures us that we are integrating their expectations when we plan our business, in order to create a positive impact. Being open to the society to find ideas that come from outside is very important to us".

“Being open to the society to find ideas that come from outside is very important to us”

In an industry that needs to innovate with ideas that help to create a more sustainable environment, collaboration with start-ups and entrepreneurs becomes essential. The aim is to ensure that quality projects are advanced to generate a future for the energy industry that we can all feel a part of.

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